The Gallery : A Memory

1992

I was looking through some old photos the other day and found this photograph. At first glance it just looks like a baby asleep in a pushchair but look closer. There is an intravenous pump in the foreground, a charity cheque pinned to a notice board in the background and a reclining chair to the right. It is a hospital ward and the child in the pushchair is towards the end of the hair loss process through chemotherapy, but she sleeps peacefully.

This picture is of my daugher, Rachel and was taken by the nursing staff on Borchardt Ward at Pendlebury Children's Hospital. It was given to me to reassure me that whilst I went home for a rare break, she was well looked after and she didn't constantly cry.

1994

The second photograph is the first proper picture we have of Rachel after her hair grew back and she'd had her first real haircut since the regrowth. It grew back blonder, thicker and curlier than previously. This picture was taken by the nursery school staff about two years after she finished her chemotherapy.

Both of these photos hold different memories. The first photo reminds me of a time we thought we'd never get through; heartbreaking, endless - a black tunnel with no light at the end of it. The second photo reminds me how wondrous modern medicine is and how lucky we were to be given the chance to continue 'normal' family life. I'm sure Rachel thought, at times, that I was over-protective but each time we argued about a risk she was taking (usually teenage curiosity) or I told her that I needed to know where she was and gave her a curfew time, it was only because I'd almost lost her once and I didn't want to lose her again.

This blog post was submitted for the weekly Gallery over at Sticky Fingers. This week's theme was 'A Memory'. This digital art Gallery is all linked at Sticky Fingers and you can see all of this weeks entries >>> here <<<